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<div>Hello Paul and everyone,</div>
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<div>I don’t know that this was a “problem” inasmuch as several then-Councilors felt some discomfort at the thought that the voting threshold for a topic (Spec 13) on which the Board (through the NGPC) had requested GNSO Council input as to whether the proposed
implementation was consistent or not with GNSO policy was a simple majority, whereas adopting the original PDP policy recommendations upon which the NGPC request was based required a higher threshold.</div>
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<div>In somewhat similar vein, the recent deliberations of this Council over the vote for the Final CCWG-Accountability Proposal involved some discussion over the simple majority threshold, this time I believe in relation to the importance of the topic concerned.</div>
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<div>I’m not aware that there have been other, similar situations where Councilors have expressed concerns or unease, but I offer these two recent examples in the hope that they are helpful.</div>
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<div>Thanks and cheers</div>
<div>Mary</div>
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<div>Mary Wong</div>
<div>Senior Policy Director</div>
<div>Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)</div>
<div>Email: mary.wong@icann.org</div>
<div>Telephone: +1-603-5744889</div>
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<span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span><<a href="mailto:owner-council@gnso.icann.org">owner-council@gnso.icann.org</a>> on behalf of Paul McGrady <<a href="mailto:policy@paulmcgrady.com">policy@paulmcgrady.com</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span>Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 14:48<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span>'WUKnoben' <<a href="mailto:wolf-ulrich.knoben@t-online.de">wolf-ulrich.knoben@t-online.de</a>>, "'James M. Bladel'" <<a href="mailto:jbladel@godaddy.com">jbladel@godaddy.com</a>>, 'GNSO Council List' <<a href="mailto:council@gnso.icann.org">council@gnso.icann.org</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span>RE: [council] Open action item - SCI Review of Council Voting Threshholds<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">I’d also like to hear concrete examples of the purported problem. Although my time on Council has been brief, I’m not sure that we have actually
experienced any deadlock, other than the Bladel election kerfuffle which was quickly resolved once everyone went back to their camps to find out what happened.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Has the current voting threshold arrangement resulted in any real problems that didn’t promptly self-resolve?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Best,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Paul<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">
<a href="mailto:owner-council@gnso.icann.org">owner-council@gnso.icann.org</a> [<a href="mailto:owner-council@gnso.icann.org">mailto:owner-council@gnso.icann.org</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>WUKnoben<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, April 22, 2016 06:54 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> James M. Bladel; GNSO Council List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [council] Open action item - SCI Review of Council Voting Threshholds<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">Hi,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">as I wasn’t on council when this was raised as a potential item for the SCI to review maybe others have more insight on this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">In principle I see justification for a review after a voting scheme has been in use for a time period long enough to become acquainted with its implications. But I’m unsure what
“long enough” could mean here and whether the council has already got to this level. I’m also of the opinion that a review – if required - shouldn’t just focus on the thresholds rather than the entire scheme.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">In summary, I’m not against but would be happy to hear concrete rationales before final decision.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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Best regards<br>
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Wolf-Ulrich<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;"><a href="mailto:jbladel@godaddy.com" title="jbladel@godaddy.com">James
M. Bladel</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;">Sent:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;"> Thursday, April 21, 2016 2:05
AM<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;">To:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;"><a href="mailto:council@gnso.icann.org" title="council@gnso.icann.org">GNSO
Council List</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:whitesmoke"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;">Subject:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; color: black;"> [council] Open action item
- SCI Review of Council Voting Threshholds<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">Council Colleagues -<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">Donna, Heather, and I have been working with Staff to do a bit of “spring cleaning” on our Action Items list. One of the open items from last year calls for the SCI to review
GNSO Council Voting Thresholds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">The default voting threshold for the GNSO is a simple majority, >50% of each House. Some specific votes (see ICANN Bylaws, Article X, Sec.3(9)) require a different voting
threshold such as, for example, a “supermajority” threshold or <span style="background:white">
an affirmative vote of more than one-fourth (1/4) vote of each House or majority of one House (create an Issue Report)</span>. All the current non-standardvoting thresholds relate to votes that are linked to a Policy Development Process, including for example:
terminating an existing PDP, or modifying a PDP recommendation before sending it on to the Board.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">Currently, any vote that is not specifically excluded defaults to the simple majority vote. There was some discussion a while back (regarding Council adoption of Spec 13) that
passing some motions with a simple majority were equivalent to amending existing (2007) PDPs, which would require a supermajority.
</span><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard, serif; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard, serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard, serif; color: black;">Also, Council noted that we were frequently voting on situations that weren’t otherwise covered, including motions related to the IANA transition and Accountability work.
Some</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> suggested that these topics warranted a supermajority threshold, and the Action Item to send this over to the SCI was born. The Councilors who initially raised this issue have since
moved on, and we completed the votes on IANA and Accountability using our existing procedures, so this item has been marked “pending" for several months.
</span><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard, serif; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">But I’d like to disposition the action item one way or the other. So, if you believe this topic is still a concern and would like to volunteer to take the lead (see attached
SCI Review Request), <b>please respond by Friday 22 APR. </b> </span><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard, serif; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">Otherwise, if there’s no further interest, we'll close out the action item.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">Thanks—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: black;">J.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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